Browse >
Home / Blog / Will The Last Teacher to Leave The Building Shut Out the Lights!

Will The Last Teacher to Leave The Building Shut Out the Lights!

I was raised to believe that one of the key foundations for America’s success was our nation’s desire and ability to educate all people who came to this shore. It mattered little if they spoke the language, knew the culture, if they were poor or rich. In fact if you go into a room of successful people, you will find that there is one commonality – they all were successful in their education.

But that is all changing. With the vilification of education and educators by some of our nation’s governors and federal officials, there is a dramatic decline in the number of people seeking a position in education because teachers are being laid off and others are unable to find a job.

For decades, young people were told to go into education because there were a growing number of children and that many states were lowering class sizes that would create a growing demand for educators. They were told that someone with a teaching credential would always have a job or would never have difficulty finding one.

A survey conducted by the American Association of School Administrators in May of this year found that of 1,000 school superintendents, 74 percent expected to cut jobs this year. In California alone, budget cuts resulted in 30,000 teachers being laid off in the past 3 years. In Michigan, the number of teachers shrunk by nearly 9 percent or 10,000 educators. Austin, Texas hired 72 teachers this year. Six years ago they hired 800.

According to the Associated Press, at the University of California, Los Angeles the number of applicants desiring to go into education fell by more than one third since 2003.

So the message is getting out to potential educators. Do not saddle yourself with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans because you will not find employment and if you do, there is a strong likelihood that you will be laid off.

Politicians do not seem to mind that they are eating America’s seed corn. Obviously they got their education. Besides when it is time for children to vote, they will be long gone from the political arena.

Newsletter & Updates

Sign up to receive immediate website updates in addition to my occasional newsletter.